In a kind of human body communication that transmits/receives data by using a human body as a communication path, when a person carrying a human body communication mobile terminal touches a human body contact sensor provided in a human body communication terminal of the other party, data communication is performed between the human body communication mobile terminal and the human body communication terminal.
However, there is a case where data communication is performed between the human body communication mobile terminal and the human body communication terminal via another person touching the human body contact sensor even if the person himself carrying the human body communication mobile terminal has no intention to perform communication. Cases shown below, for example, are such a case.
When another person carrying no human body communication mobile terminal touches a human body contact sensor, data communication is performed between a human body communication mobile terminal and a human body communication terminal via the other person touching the human body contact sensor.
When another person carrying a human body communication mobile terminal touches a human body contact sensor, the human body communication mobile terminal of the other person touching the human body contact sensor is passed and data communication is performed between a human body communication mobile terminal of the person himself and a human body communication terminal via the other person.
Data communication not intended by the person himself carrying a human body communication mobile terminal could cause a security problem.
To ensure security, personal authentication data such as a fingerprint pattern is normally registered with a human body communication mobile terminal in advance and the identity of a person touching the human body contact sensor is authenticated by comparing with the fingerprint pattern of the person touching the human body contact sensor.
However, registering personal authentication data with a human body communication mobile terminal in advance could cause a problem in terms of personal information management. If a human body communication mobile terminal is lost, personal authentication data could be misused.
Thus, When a human body communication mobile terminal is shared by a plurality of persons, it becomes difficult to register personal authentication data with the human body communication mobile terminal in advance and therefore, instead of authenticating personal identification, a human body communication apparatus and an authentication method capable of authenticating a communication intention of the person himself carrying a human body communication mobile terminal are desired.